Like many students, juniors Megan Soultz and Matthew Nance seized the opportunity to take a Winter Term internship, theirs with the New York City Fire Department. What they didn't expect was the chance to assist with a large-scale emergency that dominated national headlines: the rescue of 155 passengers and crew on Flight 1539 from New York's LaGuardia Airport on January 15.

The plane struck a flock of birds on leaving the airport and landed without casualties in the Hudson River. The passengers, some of whom had minor injuries, were left waiting for rescue in the river's icy waters. Emergency workers sprang into action, with Soultz and Nance – both trained emergency medical technicians – along for the response.

Nance and Soultz began their EMT careers when they signed up for the Winter Term EMT class as freshmen. The friends met DePauw alumnus Dr. John Freese, the medical director for the FDNY and a regular speaker for the EMT Winter Term. It was then they both decided they wanted to pursue an internship with him. The two spent Winter Term last year as teaching assistants for the course and saved money to head to New York. In the mean time, they began work as EMTs at Operation Life in Putnam County, Indiana.

When they arrived in New York, they began what Nance described as a comprehensive review of the department’s operations. They went on ride-alongs and attended meetings with hospitals, among other things. But their studies of the day-to-day operations screeched to a halt when word hit that the plane had gone down.

“My first thing was, ‘OK, there's a chain of command. I’ll do whatever Dr. Freese needs us to do,’ ” Nance said.

Soultz said there was a “curiosity about what was going to unfold” as well as “a nervous excitement” to see what awaited them at the scene.

At the crash site, the nervousness persisted.

“It was tense because of the large scale,” Nance said. “I was on pins and needles, but I didn't want to overstep the boundaries.”

He said he was also concerned with representing the department in a positive light.

“It was overwhelming. I had never seen that many emergency vehicles in my life,” Soultz said. She said they were asked to make sure people were calm and help them to get in contact with loved ones.

“(I was) impressed and humbled by the conversations between the passengers and their families,” she said.

In the end, they walked away with a memory other interns had not had the chance to experience. Soultz said it was sheer luck: There had never been an event of that magnitude during the tenure of the other interns they spoke with.

The experience will also help to propel them along their intended career paths.

“It definitely has encouraged me to investigate medical administration,” Nance said. “It showed me if I want to continue in this field, there are tons of opportunities.”

Soultz is currently preparing for the MCATs and hopes to attend medical school. She deemed the experience “good practice for my job here and in the future ... I definitely think I will be more prepared for any event.”

Sarah Eutsler is features editor of The DePauw, the university’s student newspaper. The article is reprinted with the permission of the newspaper and the author.